“Any interesting stories since you guys came to the school?” Ethan went on the assault. “Anything scary or spooky?”

Jason Purpletimber was one of the 5th years, and was well in the 3rd realm with a rare grade core. “Can’t remember, actually. Everyone’s just so busy with the rifts-”

“Like, there has to be something.” Ethan went a little suggestive without being clear he knew what he was talking about. “Kidnapped students. Dropouts. Expelled students. Noble drama. Hostages, Lost in the woods, missing children.”

Jason paused. “There were some dropouts whom we never saw again, but that’s about it. Actually, I just can’t remember. All I keep doing is rifts. Rifts Rifts rifts. Noble drama, my batch was quite good.”

“That’s because you don’t even bother.” Another 5th year quipped.

“Tell me about them!” Ethan asked. “It can’t be all rifts.”

“But life in the garden is all about the rift! The rifts provide GP, provide cores, and that’s the answer to everything!” Jason laughed. “The whole reason why we are here is to become future pillars of the army!”

Ethan rolled his eyes.

“But yeah, there were a few dropouts. More than a few, actually.” Jason laughed. “Some people just drop out, never to be seen again. It’s just life.”

Ethan realized somebody could be experimenting on the students, and then arranging for them to have ‘dropped’ out. It’s likely that they were all commoners too, because commoners just don’t have the means to complain or raise a fuss. The fact that Kaname said they were about the fourth realm greatly suggested at least an instructor was in cahoots with the dark forces.

“Do you keep in touch with any of them?”

Jason shook his head and laughed. “We’re barely keeping up! I’m happy to just keep up with my team!”

“But you’re here, mingling with us.” Andrew teased.

“Look. Be practical. Dropouts are almost always going to be nobodies. If any of you drop out, don’t call me, because I won’t remember who you are.” Jason said frankly. “Only those who graduated will get their roles in the Army.”

“Ouch.”

“You guys, at least some of you will become future army members, and I’ll be your seniors in the army then.” Jason said frankly. “Having connections both up and down will be useful.”

“I feel manipulated.” Ethan looked at Alia, who also joined them for the meet, and Alia shrugged.

“That’s life, dude.” Jason said, and Andrew laughed.

“Well, I suppose that’s why we’re here to make friends, too!” Andrew replied and broke the awkwardness. “It’s fair if it goes both ways.” Ethan felt the word friends had somehow got distorted. Friends didn’t view each other as a measure of value or resources to be exploited, but he could see the pragmatism behind that approach.

“And it is fair.” Jason said. “When you’re trying to stand up to the nobles, we’re going to need to rely on other commoners. Commoners that have the steel and qualities in them. You don’t call on weaklings or dropouts who will flake out when the going gets tough.”

“Just to make it clear, not all of us are like Jason.” Tarven Whitestream was a lady also from the fifth year. She sat next to Jason and laughed. “He’s just more ruthless and calculative about all these things.”

“Someone’s gotta have a plan!” Jason retorted.

“Yes, yes. We get it.” Tarven just shrugged. All of the fifth years present were in the third realm, and only Tarven had a Titan-grade core. The rest of them were still saving up for the shift, or were waiting for a compatible Titan-grade.

As a result, a few of them had ‘stalled’ in their advancement, as they focused on banking their GP. Certain popular core types get snatched quickly and prices can shoot up, so they would need to bid higher.

Some of them focused their efforts on their ‘side-arms’ and ‘equipment’.

Ethan’s attempts to squeeze more out of the fifth years were mostly answered with more silly noble drama. From the commoner’s point of view, their goal was to keep their heads low, graduate, and fuck off to the army where they have the army’s levels of authority to protect them.

***

Dinner and drinks were over, and Ethan gradually walked back to his room. He had an epiphany then, that if the dark forces had already collected or convinced certain instructors to switch sides, it’s likely that the hero and heroine’s anonymity is the only thing that protected them. At least, until they got strong enough, or awakened their secret hero power.

The fact that Violet, Sara and Camelia all seemed oblivious to their future heroine status, strongly suggested that it was entirely by design.

The instructors wouldn’t be able to kill everyone, not without the grandmasters easily stopping them, and that was why the rift break occurred. It’s possible that the dark forces wanted to bait the heroes to action.

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If that’s the case, Kaname could be a lightning rod. If she publicly pretended to be one of the ‘heroines’, it would help shield the rest of them away.

“Ethan, you look like you’re thinking a lot.”

Ethan looked at Alia. “Ah. I’m sorry. Just something on my mind.”

“This seems to happen quite frequently.”

“It does?”

“Yeah. You just blank out sometimes, like you’re staring at something really far away but nothing in particular.”

“My bad.” Ethan apologized. “I hope it didn’t come off as rude.”

“Well, it does. Especially when you’re not paying attention to what I’m saying.”

“Ah.” One of the flaws of his power was it needed his active listening for it to activate. When he zoned out, his listening ability was also zoned out. It was only active when he was listening. “I’m sorry for that.”

Alia just squinted. “It’s alright. You must be tired. Can’t believe we have to wait another week before the rifts open again.”

“Heh. What were you doing anyway?”

“Practicing. We can still level up our skills.”

“Ah.” Ethan nodded, and then Alia asked.

“Have you seen shadows around, lately?” Alia said and Ethan froze. How did she-

“What shadows?”

“There’s these things moving outside of our windows.” Alia looked around. “But every time I go out to check they’re gone.”

“Really?” Ethan’s mind spun. What should he say? If he tells them what they are, could that draw attention to him? He couldn’t protect everyone, that’s for sure. Not with his current abilities. He decided to play along. “I thought I saw some too, but they don’t look very friendly.”

Alia grinned. “Nah! Of course they’re not friendly!”

“You think they are real?”

“I would think so. My hometown has legends of shadow-monsters.”

“Shit.” Ethan cursed.

***

Earlier that day...

Kaname snuck back underground. It was likely that the dark agents would have moved, or abandoned their location for somewhere else, after the battle.

If they didn’t, they were stupid.

The hallways underground were quiet, and as she predicted, abandoned.

Yet, they left some creatures behind. Two shadow dogs waited for her there, and they charged at her.

She sliced through them easily, and collected two more fragments.

The room had been abandoned, but their cleanup was shoddy. The markings and formations on the floor had been removed, but it was largely enough for her to sketch out what they drew and made.

She didn’t understand it, but she checked. The room had been blasted with an ability to remove remains, but there had to be gaps. She checked the destroyed table, and the vaporized cabinets.

Some hair, and some torn paper with scribblings. What was said was gibberish, but it had fairly recent handwriting. She could use that.

But there was nothing else. Frustrated, she searched the hallway some more. There had to be something else in these underground chambers that leaked their position.

As she searched, she eventually found a set of stairs that went further down.

[Kaname: More stairs that lead even deeper underground. There seems to be some kind of labyrinth underneath the Garden.]

[Ethan: How much time do you have left?]

[Kaname: Three hours?]

[Ethan: Let’s pull back for now. I need you to keep spying on the others at night. We’ll attempt that underground path tomorrow.]

[Kaname: As you command.]

***

It was late at night, Ethan sent both Zaram and Kaname separately to patrol the night, while he rested. He felt a little tipsy from all the alcohol, but his mind still thought about setting Kaname up as the lightning rod.

The night was quiet.

***

Week 4 Day 2

[You have 3 shards and 1 fragments]

Ethan looked at his list, and decided it was time to make Kaname the lightning rod she needed to be. To engage the dark shadows, she’ll need power. Yet, he also saw the need to diversify. He wanted to know what additional powers upgrading his other three powers led to.

He gulped, and decided to go for it. He assigned two shards to Kaname-

[Only 1 shard can be assigned to Kaname]

[Assigned 1 shard to Kaname]

[Overall level limit increased to 25. 5 levels gained]

[Summon : Gold-Rank Ninja Kaname - Level 19/25 (+2 shard)]

[Skills : Body-replacement (log), Multi-strike, Camouflage, Martial Arts (Master), Katana Master (new)]

[Reach level 10 in Summon Master to unlock Kaname’s Level Break Quest Item]

“Ah crap.” Ethan cursed, but that meant he had two extra shards he could deploy.

He decided to upgrade his admin access, to see what he could learn, and also upgrade the Outfitters’ ability, since it seemed like that also led to a set of combat options.

[Skills given by the Goddesses]

[Summon Master - Summoned Warriors - Level 5]

[Goddesses’ Outfitters - Level 2]

[Eavesdrop - I hear everything in the room - Level 1]

[Administrative Control (School-office) & Academic Pass - Level 2]

[Goddess Outfitters - Outfit Shop Unlocked!]

[You gained 1 free outfit - Enchanted Practice Attire. While wearing enchanted practice attire - your energy gain and efficiency from using cultivation chambers will increase slightly!]

[Outfit Shop - displaying only currently unlocked options]

[Kaname’s Slayer Katana - 3 shards]

[Zaram’s Blood Scimitar Pair - 3 shards]

[Gordeaux’s Crusher Hammer - 3 shards]

[Matilda’s Enchanted Shield - 3 shards]

“...shit.” Ethan cursed. There was no way he’ll ever have enough to purchase all the things he wanted.

[Administrative Control - Instructors’ and Assistants’ Schedules unlocked.]

[Administrative Control - Remote Room Summoning. You may remotely summon your characters in their assigned school rooms, or in your room. Your summons will have their room keys with them at all times.]

The ability to summon his summoners remotely immediately solved a problem. The fact that he had summon chat also meant he was always able to communicate with his summons remotely. But why would he need his instructors’ and assistants’ schedules?

Unless, it was a clue to which instructor could be one of the dark’s agents?